Quote: Originally Posted by Gareee Thing is if you use 1 coupon a YEAR, you've gotten your money's worth. I know we've used at least 5 now. If each saved us $20, thats $100 worth of coupons for $15.

That is a bizarre way of looking at things. Let's look at Prototype 2 this month. Yes, the coupon is for $25 off, but the fact of the matter is there is no way in hell I would ever pay $40 for it to begin with, so even if I used the coupon I didn't "save $25". The price after coupon is the only price that matters to me, forget all that nonsense about "ZOMG you saved 6000% off retail!!!".

So here's how my thinking goes in determining if GCU gets my "money's worth". I mentally tack on an extra dollar to everything I buy through GCU. If I've used 15 coupons throughout the year, then I've broken even. That's BROKEN EVEN, not come out ahead. Over the past year I've used 18 coupons, and I've also gotten the 10% used bump, so overall it has been a positive deal after gas, taxes, time, and everything. (I don't use the preorder bonus at all because I don't feel like rushing through the game and then messing around with ebay/craigslist).

However, here's the kicker. The reason I joined GCU is because of the March 2012 issue that had 5 coupons I wanted, and the track record of previous months that spoke to a consistent flow of coupons. I felt very comfortable committing the $15 buy-in because it felt like I would hit 15 transactions easily. Turns out it wasn't that easy.

Come this March, can I really say the same thing after 4 months (5 months due to Jan/Feb double issue) of zero coupons? That's almost half the year. Looking back on the good coupons, how many were based on very specific publisher-level circumstances (incoming GOTY or compilation edition obsoleting the version the coupon was for, MSRP price drops that caught BBY off guard) that might not be consistently replicable? Even if they came out with a monster 5 coupon issue again, could I really be comfortable about hitting more than 15 coupons in a year given recent events? The answer for me is unfortunately no.